planBE

Its been a rough go these last few weeks between a significant increase in work, brutal cold snaps, icy trails and skating rink parking lots. Ive only ridden a handful of times on those rare occasions where the universe converged. This has made for a spicy pony and while it makes me more prudent on how I engage in speed when the brakes are fairly absent, it also makes me super appreciative that this spicy horse does keep his excitement under wraps most of the time. Clearly Q is fit and feeling good, and his daily turnout with bestie Chester is absolutely insufficient in expending energy. Especially since these two lazybouts just stand in a corner watching the world go by.  We went out today after a little snow fell to cover our thick ice. Footing was good, and it was our first outing in over 10 days. The strategy is always the same: long steady trots for 5-10 mins until Q starts relaxing and blowing through his nose in loud bursts. During the first stretch we kept on trotting through a

The deep siberian freeze is here and planning to stay for a few days. Temperatures at -25 to -35 with wind gusts at 50-60 km/h, creating « feels like » combined temperatures of -40 to -45. Im not afraid of cold weather and often ride at -20C, but this is too much. So when the weather cracked a mild day of -4C before the deep cold, I hurried out with barn bestie for a little spin in the woods. Q was hot but kept it at a brisk walk. Q turns 10 next month, and it makes me happy to see that he can keep his emotions contained at a walk even when he is ready to bounce.